Ballast tamping machine



Dec. 5, 1961 F. PLASSER ETAL 3,011,454

BALLAST TAMPING MACHINE Filed April 25, 1960 INVENTORS fiMl Z PLA6ER BY Jox F TlffilmER United States Patent Ofitice 3,011,454 Patented Dec. 5, 1961 The present invention relates to ballast tamping. machines used in railroad track maintenance operations,

- 18. A support frame 4 for the tamping tool carrier and more particularly to that type of track tampers wherein the vertically adjustable mounted tamping tool carrier is vibratory.

Such machines are in many respects simpler than those tampers wherein each individual tamping tool is vibrated but, due to their generally light construction necessitated by the nature of the mounting of the vibratory tamping tool carriers, they are far less efficient than the heavy tampers with individually vibrated tamping tools.

While it has been proposed to provide shock damping means for the support of the vibratory carrier, experience has proved it to be impossible to prevent all vibrations from being transmitted from the carrier to the machine carriage in conventional machines of this type. Rail clamps were used to alleviate the situation in an attempt to hold the track relatively motionless during tamping but great losses in efiiciency were incurred and it proved to be impossible to prevent the undesirable transmission of vibrations to the track entirely. As far as the large, heavy tampers with great tamping capacity were concerned, it was altogether impossible to use vibratory tamping tool carriers because the vibrations of these heavy carriers could not be prevented from being transmitted to the machine carriage.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a highly adaptable, multi-purpose track tamper of great efiiciency and which is particularly useful in track grading operations wherein a track lifted to a desired grade is temporarily fixed in position by tamping each sixth or eighth tie, a regular track tamper subsequently eifectuating tamping of all the ties.

The above and other objects are accomplished in accordance with this invention by mounting a tamping tool carrier pivotally on a vertically adjustable support frame and vibrating the carrier about the pivot means which supports the carrier on the frame. The pivoting or vibrating action is imparted to the carrier in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the pivot means so that any transmission of vibrations to the support frame or the machine carriage is absolutely obviated.

This arrangement has the further advantage of cansing a minimum of 'wear with a maximum of vibrating amplitudes and frequencies. It also has the advantage that a pivoting movement in a horizontal plane may be imparted to the tamping tool carrier in a very simple manner whereby the tamping tool ends effectuate a kind of a fan motion in the ballast, which greatly increases the efiiciency of tamping and decreases the tamping time to a The above and other objects, advantages and features of the invention will be more fully understood in the light of the following detailed description of one specific embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a track tamper embodying the principles of the present invention and FIG. 2 is a top view of the tamping tool carrier arrangement of the embodiment of FIG. 1.

As is conventional, the ballast tamping machine comprises a carriage 1 with wheels 2 to travel on railroad track 16 which includes the ties 17 embedded in ballast is vertically adjustably mounted on carriage 1, the preferred mounting means being a pair of posts 3 which are fixedly mounted on the carriage and which slidably support the support frame. Since the means for adjusting the support frame on the posts is well known per se and forms no part of the present invention, it is not illustrated.

As shown, the support frame has a pair of frame parts 4' which extend laterally from the frame outside the track and in vertical alignment with the tie ends, the carrier 5 being pivotally mounted on the laterally extending frame parts by pivot means 6, 6. In the illus trated embodiment, the pivot means have a vertical axis and the carrier is pivotal thereabout in a horizontal plane. However, in some instances, it may be preferred to pivot or vibrate the carrier in a vertical plane about a horizontal pivot, in which case the pairs of tamping tools would alternately press the ballast under the ties.

Obviously, the fan or pushing motion of the tools may be varied by changing the amplitude or the frequency of the pivoting movement and, depending on the type of ballast, the optimum may be readily adjusted empirically.

Any suitable means may be used for vibrating or pivoting the tamping tool carrier in a predetermined plane. The illustrated pivoting means includes a crank shaft 7 journaled in support frame bearings 4a, the driving motor 8, i.e. an electric or hydraulic motor, also being mounted on the support frame. Crank 9 is linked to lug 11 at pivot 10 so that rotation of the crank shaft causes the carrier, to which lug 11 is fixedly attached, to vibrate in a horizontal plane, thus correspondingly vibrating the tamping tools 12 supported on the carrier.

In addition to the vibratory motion, the tamping tools may also effect an additional tamping movement. For instance, if associated pairs of tamping tools are so mounted on the carrier that each tool of a pair is positioned laterally adjacent a tie, the tamping tools may be moved relatively to each other in the direction of the track so that they execute a pincer movement which compresses the ballast between the tools and under the tie when the tools are moved together.

In the illustrated embodiment, the carrier 5 is constituted by a generally rectangular, box-like frame which is open at the bottom so that the tamping tools may extend through the open bottom toward the ballast 18. The upper ends of the tamping tools are pivoted to the carrier at 13 so that the tools have the form of swinging levers. Intermediate their ends, the associated pairs of tools are linked to a hydraulic mechanism designed to reciprocate the tools in relation to each other. The mechanism includes a hydraulic cylinder 14 linked to one tool and a piston rod 15' linked to the other tool of the pair, the piston 15 being reciprocated by the feeding or evacuation of hydraulic fluid from one of the hydraulic cylinder chambers.

The machine operates as follows:

The carriage 1 is moved to a tie 17 to be tamped and is halted in a position wherein the tools 12 are adjacent the tie. The carrier support frame 4 is now lowered along posts 3 until thelower ends of tamping tools 12 are deeply enough immersed in the ballast to effect the tamping thereof under the tie. In this position, the crank shaft motor is actuated to vibrate the tamping tool carrier in a horizontal plane so that the immersed ends of the tamping tools vibrate correspondingly in the ballast. Additionally, the hydraulic mechanism is operated to move the tamping tools together so that the ballast under the tie is compressed by the pincer movement of the associated tools. After the tamping operation is completed, the support frame is lifted again to disengage the tamping tool ends from the track and to enable the carriage to be moved to the next tie to be tamped.

Since, in the illustrated embodiment, the tamping tool carrier with its tamping tools is arranged outside the track and in alignment with the tie ends, the machine is particularly well adapted for track grading operations Where it is first desired to fix the track in the desired position by tamping ballast under the ends of selected ties, whereupon the entire bed is tamped by a subsequent tamper.

While the invention has been described in connection with one particular embodiment, it will be clearly understood that many variations and modifications may occur to the skilled in the art without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. More particularly, the type of tamping tools may be considerably varied and the only essential feature is the pivoting or vibrating of the tamping tool carrier about a pivot means which supports the carrier on a vertically adjustable support frame.

What We claim is:

1. A ballast tamping machine comprising a wheeled carriage to travel on a railroad track, a support frame, means vertically adjustably mounting the support frame on the carriage, a tamping tool carrier supporting a plurality of tamping tools vertically relative to the track, pivot means extending vertically to the track and mounting said carrier on said support frame, and means for pivoting said carrier in a horizontal plane about said pivot means.

2. The ballast tamping machine of claim 1, wherein said pivoting means comprises a rotatable crank shaft mounted on said support frame, a crank connected to said shaft, and means linking the crank to said carrier.

3. A machine for tamping ballast under the ends of railroad track ties, comprising a wheeled carriage to travel on the railroad track, a support frame, means ver tically adjustably mounting the support frame on the carriage, a frame part extending laterally from said frame outside the track and in vertical alignment with the tie ends, a tamping tool carrier supporting a plurality of tamping tools vertically relative to the track, pivot means extending vertically to the track and mounting said carrier on said laterally extending frame part whereby the tamping tools are aligned with the ballast outside the track and adjacent the tie ends, and means for pivoting said carrier in a horizontal plane about said pivot means.

4. The ballast tamping machine of claim 3, wherein said means vertically adjustably mounting the support frame on the carriage comprises two posts fixedly mounted on the carriage for slidably supporting said support frame.

5. The ballast tamping machine of claim 3, further comprising means for moving associated pairs of the tamping tools relatively to each other in the direction of the track.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,869,476 Kershaw Jan. 20, 1959 

